The Songbird
by Evil.Little.Kittys
Summary: Taken in by the Master of the Arashikage Clan, the young girl was taught alongside the masters nephew and the orphaned boy. The strenuous path of the ninja is laced with deception and betrayal, but even when he was accused of murder and marked as a traitor, she still saw him as her friend. "Why are you here?" "Because your my friend, and that's what friends do." Storm Shadow/Oc


**Hi There! :D welcome to the first chapter of "The Songbird." This a Stormshadow/ Oc. I FREAKEN' CAN'T FIND ****ANY ****STORM SHADOW/OC! **

**They are almost always Snake Eyes this or Snake Eyes that :/ where's the love for Storm Shadow? Where? **

**Or maybe I'm just horrible at finding them... **

**Please enjoy~!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything, zilch, nada, of GIJoe**

* * *

A tall man with short, dark hair stepped beside a blue Honda car. In his arms were several bags filled with blankets and little snacks which he unsuccessfully tried to put into the car. With a huff of annoyance, he instead focused on the large home in front of him. Built in a traditional Japanese fashion, the home was simple, yet exquisite looking.

"Hein, Areia, come on! We're going to be late!" he called out to the two occupants- one of whom was struggling to put her shoe on within the cusp of the doorway.

The woman looked up with a sheepish smile. With one hand braced against the door frame, she quickly shoved her foot into the awaiting sneaker before running out of her house towards her annoyed husband.

"Ryota," she started, looking at all the bags in his arms, " Why did you bring all of them out at once? And so many as well! We're only going to the park."

The man- Ryota- scoffed. "The _park_?" he questioned, no longer looking at his wife, but at some invisible object far off into the distance. "The park is where we always go. It's where we- a family- go to play, to tease each other, to-"

"Okay, okay!" Hein interrupted. Sometimes this man gets too dramatic, she sighed. "I get it," she smiled coyly at him.

Ryota smiled back. His wife was so cute and understanding- sometimes- with her short dark hair and large doe eyes surrounded by thick eye lashes.

Eskimo kissing her husband, Hein opened the rear door, placing all the bags inside.

"There," Hein sighed in relief. Everything was almost ready now... All they needed was one more thing. "What's taking Areia so long?"

"Hmmmm..." Ryota mused. Walking up to the door frame, he cupped one of his hands to his mouth to amplify his voice. "Areia!"

A crash was heard upstairs, followed by a cry of surprise and a series of light thumps.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" a high pitched voice shouted out. Down the stairs came a little girl, not much older then six. Her dark hair was in two long pigtails. A little backpack was on her back and in her hand was a stuffed toy- a little black raven.

"Ah!"

Ryota watched as his young daughter tripped over the last stair and hard onto the wooden floor. Ouch, he winced. That had to hurt.

Cocking his head to look over Areia's crumpled frame, Ryota spotted the cause for the youths fall.

Untied shoelaces, he mused.

"Owwwww," Areia groaned, Slowly rising to her feet. Her father watched patiently, not bothering to check on her. She was a "big girl", after all.

Areia glared at her father while rubbing her head.

"What?" Ryota asked innocently, cocking his head to the side once more.

Narrowing her eyes until they were just slits, Areia walked to the mirror placed above the end table by the door.

She had to tiptoe just to see her reflection. Checking to see if any bruises were forming, Areia rubbed the area by her cheek. Her small childish face was void of any discoloration. She turned to glowered at her father. "You could've helped me!"

Ryota only laughed at his tiny daughter, making Areia flush red out of embarrassment. "But if I remember correctly, you wanted to be a "big girl", right?

"Hmp!" She quickly adverted her gaze, instead, focusing on a small metallic frame under the mirror with a picture of two men side by side- one whom she faintly recognized and the other she did not know at all.

"Daddy, who's that?" She pointed at the unknown man. His face was hard and faintly wrinkled, a thin goatee of wispy graying hair sprouted from his chin.

He wasn't smiling, but she could tell he was happy by the way his eyes gleamed.

Ryota pursed his lips. Then, bending down to the height of his daughter, gestured to the man on the left.

"Do you know who this might be?" He questioned lightly.

Areia studied the mans face. Wrinkled, kind... Old. Wait... He looks kind of like...

"Grandpa!" She smiled. "He looks a lot like you!"

"Yep" he ruffled her hair a little. "And this man here-" he pointed to the unknown man on the right, "-is his good friend, Mr. Arashikage."

"Ohhhhh," Areia nodded her head in understanding. "How did they meet, daddy?"

"Well," he started, "they first met when they were younger. They became very good friends from then on."

"Are they still friends now?"

"Yes... and no" he stopped. Oh, how could he explain this?

Confused, Areia cocked her head to the side. "No?"

Royota sighed. He'll just have to do the best he can explaining this to a six year old. "Grandpa's gone. You were too young to remember. He, um...he went to... " He swallowed and licked his lips. how could he tell her this without scarring her? "Grandpa went asleep, Areia."

Comprehension flickered in the large grey eyes of Areia. She gasped.

"He...he died?"

Ryota's eyes shot up- or down, since he was kneeling beside his daughter.

"Er...yes. He did die." Was this an appropriate topic for a young girl? Now his parenting was in question.

Areia's eyes downcast. "Oh"

_**Honk Honk**_

Startled, both Ryota and Areia jumped.

"Come on Ryota, Areia! We don't want to be late!" Hein called out to her beloveds.

Looking over to his child, Ryota grinned. "Up we go!" He said as he scooped up Areia, who in response squealed with glee. "The park! The park!"

Her downhearted mood now vanquished, Areia grasped her raven toy and backpack before her father exited their home. Hein was smiling from the front passengers seat, ready to go.

Ryota placed his giddy child in the car-seat on the left hand side, removing her backpack and setting it beside her before buckling her up.

"You comfortable?" He asked. Beaming at her father Areia responded with a cheery "Yep!"

"Good." Ryota pecked his daughters cheek, then, closing the car door, sat himself in the drivers seat on the right handed side. As he started the ignition, Hein turned from her seat to look back at her baby.

"Hey there." she chirped. Still wearing a smile on her face, Areia chirped back.

"Hi mommy!"

"What took you so long?"

"Um..." Areia sheepishly grinned. "I... Uh... fell. Down the stairs..."

"What!?" Hein snapped her head to Ryota. "How could you let that happen?!"

"She didn't fall "_down_" the stairs, honey, just the last two steps," he explained, giving his wife an '_just calm down_' glance. "She's fine."

Hein huffed in annoyance as Ryota drove out of the drive way, turning to look out the window. They were heading to Nikikō Park, an area where families could have fun and relax. It was actually where Ryota met Hein for the first time.

"Hey momma?"

Hein looked at Areia through the rear view mirror. "Yes sweetie?"

Areia smiled. "I love you,"

A small smile grew over Heins lips. "I love you too, baby,"

Areia watched the trees roll by from the back seat window. She yawned silently, resting her head against the car seat, hugging her plushie raven close against her body.

They've been on the road for at least fifteen minutes. The park was located on the outskirts of the bustling city of Tokyo, so to get there took a bit longer.

Ryota maneuvered the car through the mild traffic, glancing at the rearview mirror to see how Areia was fairing. He smiled faintly at the sight of her drooping eyelids.

It wouldn't be long for them to reach the park now.

Areia closed her eyes for only a second before succumbing to blissful sleep.

**_EEEERRRR _**the tires screeched painfully, causing the small child in the back of the car to wake up.

Ariea could vaguely hear a voice shouting "Hold on!" Her eyes groggily opened, wondering what in the world could be making such a racket, only to snap shut at the sight of a large eighteen wheeler coming towards the right side of the car.

"Ah!"

Ariea was thrown back into her seat, knocked unconscious as her head connecting with the window from the force of the collision. Screams and the nauseating sound of metal crunching pierced the air as the blue Honda was flung off the road and through the metal bars that were meant to act as a barrier. The small vehicle tumbled through the grass, throwing up patches of dirt and grime in its wake.

The alarmed shouts of pedestrians roused the small child from her entrance.

She groaned at the intense headache pounding through her head. Her mind was swarmed with a thick fog, unaware of what had just happened.

Her vision was impaired; she could only see blurs of the objects in front of her.

Barely able to make out the fact that she was no longer right side up, Areia tried to reach out to her parents, to touch or at least know that they were okay.

"AH!" She screamed, recoiling her aching arms back to her side. Bright red and orange heat had bit her outstretched hands. She knew instantly what it was, the burning sensation that danced in and outside the car, coating the air with thick puffs of smoke, was fire.

The car had set fire. The car was _on_ fire.

Ariea wheezed. It was hard to breathe. The smoke stung her eyes, making blobs of tears run down. She was upside down and the blood rushed furiously to her head, intensifying her headache twice fold.

"Mommy... Daddy!" She struggled to call out. "Help! HELP!" Ariea tried to focus on the dark figures hanging limply in the seats before of her. "MOMMY! HELP! DADDY!"

The flames tickled her hair, before flaring up instantly like a hungry storm, consuming everything in its path.

Ariea's eyes went wide.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" Her little lungs couldn't take it any longer. With every breath she took, deadly smoke would rapidly be sucked in.

"...h..hel..p," she whimpered out. Time seemed to slow as the fire blazed on, covering the child's hanging arms. She didn't register the pain of her flesh burning, not even the frantic hands that tried desperately to rescue her from the blaze and broken glass. She didn't see the person who pulled her out, nor hear the deafening sirens of the ambulance or the paramedic that she was handed to. Her ears were ringing and the last thing she saw was the thin line of blood dripping from a hand hanging lifelessly down as the fire swallowed up the whole car.

She felt numb. And she felt dead.

"GET BACK!" A man shouted out, forcibly pushing the crowd away seconds before the car exploded. Fire and debris shot upwards as the blue honda was consumed in a catastrophic inferno.

The paramedics struggled to keep the small child awake as the ambulance raced towards the nearest hospital. Dark grey orbs looked inertly upwards at the blinding light bulb above, before lethargically closing, blocking out the world and all it's chaos.

"_This just in, there has been a major accident on road 871 by Nikiko Park. An eighteen wheeler carrying a load of steel pipes lost control on the intersection, colliding with a dark blue Honda Accord. The Honda was thrown off the road and caught fire. The occupants are currently unkno- wait, wait-"_ the female reporter stopped, placing her hand over her ear to listen to the flow of new information,"_We just got informed that the people that were in the Honda was'KIMYME Co.' CEO Hidekimyne Ryota, his wife Hidekimyne Hein, and their young daughter, Hidekimyne Areia."_ The woman paused. A grim look passed over her features."_It has been confirmed that there has been two casualties, both Hideikimyne Ryota and Hideikimyne Hein were announced DOA by paramedics. They had died some time between the collision and the explosion of their vehicle. Their daughter was rescued seconds before the car exploded from the fuel tank catching fire. She has been taken to the hospital, where they are fighting to keep her in a stable condition. No news yet on her condition, however_."

"Kick harder, Storm Shadow." A gruff man yelled at his student as the boy rehearsed a roundhouse several times. The man's whispy beard waved as a gentle breeze came by.

The mans eyes narrowed. "Who's there?!" He demanded, spinning quickly to the front of the dojo, only to see a young man in a business suit visibly shaken by the Masters booming voice.

"Who are you?" The Hard Master demanded. The young man gulped.

"I-I'm a... I'm-"

"Spit it out already. Who are you and how did you find this place?" The Hard Master bit irritably.

The young man seemed to compose himself, setting his arms on either side of him. It was then that the Hard Master noticed the envelope the young man was clenching tightly in his left hand.

"My name is Yamamoto Hotaru, and I am the primary assistant of Hidekimyne Ryota."

The Hard Master stared at Hotaru. "Hidekimyne, you say? Tell me, what has happened?"

Hotaru continued. "There has been a major accident, sir. Mr. Hidekimyne entrusted me to keep this envelope safe and hidden-" he held up the white envelope for the Master to take it. The Hard Master took it from him, analyzing the front where the Arashikage clan's insignia was stamped on.

Hotaru explained the situation.

"Mr. Hidekimyne instructed me to only go to this address-" he showed the Master the slip of paper with the Arashikages address scribbled on it. "-and give the envelope to the Hard Master in the case that something has happened to him or his wife." He finished in one breath. The Hard Master eyed Hotaru.

Feeling the pressure of failing to carry out his employers last wish, Hotaru did the only thing he could think of. "Please sir," he got down on his knees, pressing his forehead down to the wooden floor,"I beg of you. Please come quick." Then, "I-I may not know what your connection with Mr. Hidekimyne may be, but I know that if he asked for you in his time of need, that you must be a great and honorable man. So please sir, please..." Hotaru started to cry now. There was a reason why sir Ryota gave him the envelope, not because he was the assistant, but because he was a good friend, and Ryota trusted Hotaru. When he had been lost and hungry, looking for a job or anything that would help his starving family, Mr. Ryota found him. He gave him a job, and even allowed Hotaru to call him by his first name. Hotaru considered Ryota his closest friend, and he would do anything for him, anything at all. That's why he needed to convince the man in front of him to come to the hospital quickly, because Ryota asked him to. "THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE TO COME QUICK!" He shouted, still facing the floor.

The Hard Master hummed to himself, reading the letter. He turned to the boy behind him. "Tommy, continue your lessons without me. I will be back."

The young boy nodded, not questioning his masters orders.

Then, strolling past the crumpled form of Hotaru (who was still crying), he announced, "Are you just going to sit there like a crying fool, or are you going to take me to where the child is at?" Hotaru looked up, tears running down his face as well as snot from his nose.

'Eww' Tommy cringed at the sight.

"Yes sir!" Hotaru shouted, getting up on his feet and running to the Masters side.

"Where are we headed?" The Hard Master asked.

"To the Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital. She had to be transferred because her condition is so severe."

The Hard Master nodded his head in acceptance as he climbed into Hotaru's car and they drove to the hospital.


End file.
